Steadily Increasing Control: The Professionalization of Mass Death

Stoney, Christopher; Scanlon, Joseph; Kramar, Kirsten; Peckmann, Tanya R.; Brown, Ian E.; Cormier, Cynthia Lynn; Haastert, Coen van

doi:10.1111/j.1468-5973.2011.00635.x

Cited by 9 publications

(9 citation statements)

References 15 publications

(15 reference statements)

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…The Titanic is also related to later mass casualty disasters. Visual identification methods like those developed after the Titanic continue to be used alongside, or even instead of, forensic identification through, for example, fingerprints and DNA ( Scanlon et al, 2011 ; Scanlon and Hunsberger, 2011 ; Stoney et al, 2011 ). In addition, the identification methods developed by the embalmer in Halifax, John Henry Barnstead – apparently in concert with John R Snow, Jr, the embalmer who traveled aboard the Mackay-Bennett – were applied and further developed in subsequent disasters such as the 1917 Halifax explosion.…”

Section: The Titanic and The History Of Forensic Pmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In addition, the identification methods developed by the embalmer in Halifax, John Henry Barnstead – apparently in concert with John R Snow, Jr, the embalmer who traveled aboard the Mackay-Bennett – were applied and further developed in subsequent disasters such as the 1917 Halifax explosion. As such, the Titanic recovery played a role in future practices of forensic identification, which only began to be standardized much later, beginning after World War II ( Scanlon, 1998 ; Stoney et al, 2011 ; University of Virginia, 2007 ). 2…”

Section: The Titanic and The History Of Forensic Pmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Bodily circulation and the measure of a life: Forensic identification and valuation after the Titanic disaster

Bier

2018

Soc Stud Sci

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

This article analyzes the process of body recovery that took place after the sinking of the Titanic in 1912. Focusing on how identification was intertwined with valuation, I show how notions of economic class informed decisions about which human bodies were fit for preservation as human bodies. The RMS Titanic steamship was a microcosm of social circulation in the early 20th-century Atlantic, and life on board was systematically stratified according to economic class. During the recovery that following the sinking, 114 bodies, or one-third of the total recovered, were buried at sea, most of them crewmembers or immigrant passengers who had held third-class tickets. Sea burial exposed the bodies to rapid and inaccessible decomposition, thereby selectively excluding those bodies from the archival and forensic record even as those victims’ names and personal artefacts were recorded for posterity. The recovery process thus demonstrates that the material existence of those passengers’ remains was not a given, but instead emerged in varied ways through identification and recovery practices. Such practices drew on notions of economic value and identifiability to shape bodily materials, which were selectively preserved, transformed, and/or put out of reach. As such, I argue that identification and valuation are thoroughly enmeshed with what I call instantiation, or determinations of how and whether something exists.

show abstract

Section: The Titanic and The History Of Forensic Pmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: The Titanic and The History Of Forensic Pmentioning

confidence: 99%

Bodily circulation and the measure of a life: Forensic identification and valuation after the Titanic disaster

Bier

2018

Soc Stud Sci

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Third, the nature of disasters can compound distress. Relatives today expect the dead to be recovered, identified, and treated respectfully (Stoney at al., 2011). Yet, bodies may be irrecoverable, destroyed, or damaged.…”

Section: Primary Challenges: Location Scale and Nature Of Incidentsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Organisational challenges in the United Kingdom's post‐disaster ‘crisis support’ work

Davis

2016

Disasters

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Local authorities in the United Kingdom are required to 'lead' multi-agency humanitarian responses to major disasters. Concerns mounted in the late twentieth century that responses to people bereaved in the immediate aftermath of such events at best failed to meet their needs and at worst compounded their distress. Subsequent reviews and reforms reframed some victim needs as 'rights' and established legal, administrative, and practice frameworks to improve matters. Local authority 'crisis support', provided in partnership with other actors, lies at the heart of the UK's contemporary emergency response to the bereaved. Drawing on primary research on the development and the deployment of crisis support in a local authority, and while acknowledging both incident- and context-related difficulties, this paper considers the significance of challenges with their origins in organisational factors. Recent developments within and between responders may exacerbate them. This paper argues, therefore, that further research into such developments is necessary.

show abstract

“…It appears that existing research was done after significant changes had occurred. The only publication that describes how bodies were dealt with before this research was conducted appears to be a study that covered more than a century of mass death situations in Canada and mass death situations outside of Canada that involved at least 20 Canadians (Stoney, Scanlon, Kramar, Peckmann, Brown, Cormier, & van Haastert, ). That review found that until about the middle of the 20th century, identification of the dead after a mass death incident was fairly informal.…”

Section: Literature Reviewmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…However, no matter how bodies are identified, there has been steadily increasing control of the identification process. The handling of large numbers of dead – like many aspects of society – has become a controlled affair managed by professionals (Stoney et al., )…”

Section: Literature Reviewmentioning

confidence: 99%

Ad hocRules, Rights, and Rituals: The Politics of Mass Death

Scanlon

Stoney

2014

Contingencies & Crisis Mgmt

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

In spite of the growing incidence of mass death incidents due to factors such as climate change, technology, terrorism and globalization there are relatively few rules and procedures in place to deal with the dead and where rules do exist they are often ignored or broken. Furthermore, because of the very different cultural, legal, financial, and religious nature of states and victims international agreements, conventions and best practices are difficult to establish. This paper highlights the often political and ad hoc nature of the decisions that have to be made by responders and the challenges this presents for policy-makers as well as the families of the victims. While accepting the need for flexibility in emergency situations, the paper identifies some of the areas where public policy reforms and frameworks are most needed in order to establish clearer rules and procedures for dealing with the dead. Finally, the paper calls for the policies and procedures that do exist to be informed by and subject to the same principles of public administration, such as accountability and transparency, that govern other areas public policy.

show abstract

Steadily Increasing Control: The Professionalization of Mass Death

Cited by 9 publications

References 15 publications

Bodily circulation and the measure of a life: Forensic identification and valuation after the Titanic disaster

Bodily circulation and the measure of a life: Forensic identification and valuation after the Titanic disaster

Organisational challenges in the United Kingdom's post‐disaster ‘crisis support’ work

Ad hocRules, Rights, and Rituals: The Politics of Mass Death

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About